Tether-backed Chilean exchange Orionx is permanently closing after a forensic audit found more than $7 million in customer assets moved to wallets outside its custody. Orionx suspended withdrawals and filed a criminal complaint against two former co-founders, who deny wrongdoing.
Orionx, a Chilean crypto exchange backed by Tether, is shutting down permanently after a forensic audit found more than $7 million in custodial assets had moved to wallets it did not manage. The exchange disclosed the closure in a company announcement shared on X on Thursday.
According to Orionx: "Our sole priority now is to return as much of our clients' assets as possible", and the company said withdrawals are temporarily suspended.
Withdrawals frozen, closure made public
Orionx suspended withdrawals and announced its closure on September 3, 2026. The move left over 100,000 registered users uncertain about their funds. The audit compared Orionx's internal records against onchain data and found balances exceeded the assets actually held in custody for Bitcoin, Ether, XRP and Polygon.
Complaint targets co-founders who deny wrongdoing
Orionx filed a criminal complaint on Wednesday against former executives Roberto Zibert and Joaquín Díaz, both co-founders who allegedly had access to the company's crypto custody systems. The complaint alleges assets were transferred out of custody between 2018 and 2021, including to accounts on other crypto platforms.
It further alleges that an account associated with Díaz received more than $1.5 million across 14 transfers, while another wallet allegedly received 187 Ether, more than 4.1 million USDt and 200,000 USDC. Zibert and Díaz denied the allegations, saying they never acted against customers' interests.
A Tether-backed exchange unravels
Founded in Chile in 2017, Orionx grew from a retail crypto exchange into a platform offering crypto payment and financial services across Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. Tether led Orionx's Series A funding round in June 2025 as part of its push to expand digital asset adoption in Latin America, making the closure come just 15 months later.
Chile's Financial Market Commission had also rejected Orionx's application for regulatory authorization in June 2026, confirming the exchange had been operating without the licenses required under the country's Fintech Law. The regulator says it will not oversee the closure or any restitution process, leaving Orionx to manage it alone.
Sources: Cointelegraph, Crypto Briefing
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